BATON ROUGE — The field of competitors for the NCAA Central Regional Gymnastics Championships to be hosted by LSU, April 2, at the Maravich Center was announced Monday by the NCAA.
The top-18 teams in the nation were seeded throughout the country at the six predetermined regional sites.
LSU, who finished the regular season at No. 7 in the national rankings will play host to No. 6 BYU, No. 17 Arizona State, No. 23 Auburn, No. 24 Kent State and Michigan State.
“I think this is going to be an exceptional regional championships,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “The talent of the teams coming in should lend itself to a very exciting competition.”
“This is a great opportunity for us to compete against some of the teams from out West that we don’t normally see and I feel it’s a very strong group of teams from within the region,” added Breaux.
The Tigers own winning records against each of the five opponents during postseason competition. LSU is undefeated against BYU (3-0), Kent State (1-0) and Michigan State (10-0), and holds a 9-3 advantage over the Auburn and a slim 6-5 edge over Arizona State.
In addition to the six teams competing, five individual all-arounders as well as three individual event specialists will be on hand.
Sara Burtinsky and Kara Reighard of Central Michigan, Melissa Popovich of Bowling Green, Michelle Gales of Kentucky and Elizabeth Meaney of Ohio State earned all-around berths to the regional meet. Tiffanie Janke of Ohio State will compete on both the vault and beam, while Kristina Menne will compete on the bars and Brooke Morari will compete on the floor.
Tickets are now on sale for the NCAA Central Regional Championships. They can be purchased at the LSU Ticket Office, on the first floor of the LSU Athletic Administration Building, online at www.LSUsports.net, or over the phone at (225) 578-2184. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students (college age or younger).
COMPLETE NCAA REGIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
West Region – April 3 at Corvallis, Oregon (Oregon State)
1. Alabama
2. Oregon State
3. Oklahoma
4. California
5. Boise State
6. Cal State Fullerton
North Central Region – April 3 at Denver, Colorado (University of Denver)
1. Stanford
2. Washington
3. Denver
4. Iowa
5. Minnesota
6. Southern Utah
South Central Region – April 3 at Tucson, Arizona (University of Arizona)
1. Utah
2. Florida
3. Arizona
4. Arkansas
5. Illinois
6. Illinois-Chicago
Central Region – April 2 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana (LSU)
1. BYU
2. LSU
3. Arizona State
4. Auburn
5. Kent State
6. Michigan State
Northeast Region – April 3 at University Park, Pennsylvania (Penn State)
1. Georgia
2. Iowa State
3. Missouri
4. Michigan
5. Penn State
6. New Hampshire
Southeast Region – April 3 at Raleigh, North Carolina (NC State)
1. UCLA
2. North Carolina
3. Nebraska
4. West Virginia
5. North Carolina State
6. Maryland